Quilled Picture Portrait of Girl - Graphic Quilling

I quilled a portrait which I called pouting penny and followed it up with quilled Christ portrait for which I used the method I use for landscapes and another Christ portrait for which I used multi strips with which I filled the whole piece.

For this quilled portrait, I tried something slightly different for the hair, as the shape I used for Pouting Penny's hair had spaces in the middle.So I  made Zig-zag circles like in the water for the quilled waterfall landscape.  ( The tutorial for the basic shape are here). I have combined dark shades to get shadows in the hair to create depth. Make sure you use dark colors to create a shadow for the hair that envelopes the face to give the impression that the hair is sitting on top of the face.

What I concentrated on here were the eyes, which I wanted to look lively and I think it turned out very well as it really looks alive.

 I folded the strips zig-zag and then looped it 3/4 of the way instead of making a circle and encircled it twice to make it like a  tear. Then I quilled a small black peg. I allowed the black coil to unwind just a tad so it is easier to shape. I needed it to look like a half circle, so I flattened the top and pasted it into the top of the green tear.

 The pic gives a clear idea of how the eyes are quilled. For the highlight I cut a small white circle (preferably  shiny white paper) and pasted it. Remember the highlight comes from a light source, so it should be placed on the same side in both eyes.  Highlights are most important  in making the eyes light up and give life to the portrait. Dead pan eyes make your piece look like an alien !! Always try quilling the eyes, instead of pasting plastic eyes, as it makes the image more lifelike.

I finished off by graphic quilling the face.

The next post will be my landscape styled portrait.

Quilling Tutorial - Beyond Beehive Technique

Today's quilling technique tutorial is what I discovered when I was using the beehive technique while quilling River Tree quilled landscape.

You can find a video of the beehive technique here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2141r4G-WM .
Susan is the one who came up with this technique but I did not see a tutorial on her site so I have given the above one by Pritesh.

I found that the beehive unwinds easily and when used as a filler in large areas tends to detract from its beauty, however when quilling the above I managed to make it hold its shape. The following are the secrets to success.

1. Smaller sub-coils  look nicer than large sub-coils  as the outer coils start unwinding fast and loose shape making them look more like breaking waves.
2. I usually insert the quilling needle at a length that will allow me to make about 4 to 6 twists (full clockwise turns) for  filling large areas and 3 to 4 twists for filling smaller areas.
3. Equal spaced quilling makes better beehive strips. That is after the first sub-coil which I quill counting the turns, I insert the needle at a distance, slightly less than half the length of the first, as you will be quilling practically double strips for the rest of the way.
4. Stop turning the needle just before the subcoil you are quilling touches the previous one as this will reduce it curling into the other coils.
5. After you quill each sub coil, hold it on the quilling needle for about 3 seconds to reduce it unwinding. This helps it hold the shape better.
6. Arrange the coils in its natural shape. That is if it is coiling then coil it in a circle and insert it into the space to be filled.
7. Glue every sub coil to the backing.
8. Use forceps and arrange the coils and if some have unwound use forceps and wind it back when gluing.
9. When gluing push the coils close to each other. Do not leave too much space.
10. If there are empty spaces quill single sub coils and insert and glue to fill the gaps.
11. Hold each sub-coil down till it is stuck to the backing. If large area, hold it down with your palm till it is stuck. This will prevent further unwinding.
12. All these gluing tips are not required when you stabilize the beehive by encircling it like I did in quilled tree landscape.

Lanscape Quilling Graphic Quilled - Tree & Water

Quilling Landscapes and graphic quilling nature scenes have become a great favorite with me, since it gives me leeway to try out new techniques in order to create a painting like scene. I cannot paint and have never tried painting so this gives me a chance to practice my artistic skills.I usually quill flowers to break the monotony as I tend to get bored rather quickly!!

I have used beehive or what I call honeycomb quilling for the tree top whilst the branches and trunk are graphic quilled. I created two layers in parts of the canopy to get a 3d effect and the top layer is the lightest shade of green. There are three shades of green used in this whole piece.

This is a horizontal view of it

 I have used the grass I used in my previous quilled landscape, quilled tree , around the tree (dark green) and for the horizon trees, I used the foliage used in my waterfall landscape  and Lion share of love quilled cartoon.

The embankment grass is just like what I did in Bambi which is just folded paper pasted to depict grass.

Short blue and white strips  curled like waves went to create the water. You will be able to see it clearly if you click on the image as I have put a rather large image.

Tutorial for Graphic quilling is available here.

I enjoyed quilling this one and am happy with the way it turned out. Hope you like it too.

New Quilling Technique Tutorial - Compound Leaf

This tutorial is about quilling a compound leaf freehand with a single strip. I used the same technique for the white leaves I made for butterfly heart  but made them without the rachis.

This leaf is different in appearance from the leaf spray in my previous tutorial   in that it can be made with less number of leaflets so that it looks less dense apart from the fact that the size of the leaflets as you proceed down the leaf can be changed.

Step 1

Take a green strip and apply a tad of glue to the tip as shown above .

Step 2

Glue the edge to form a loop as shown above. This forms the terminal leaflet. Now fold the strip to the right as shown above.

Step 3

Loop the strip to form a leaflet to the right and paste it to mountain side of the fold, then fold the strip up to the left as shown above.

Step 4

Now loop to the left and paste it to the mountain side of the fold and then fold the strip down as shown above.

Step 5

Now go down the strip about 1cm or less for the rachis and then fold the strip to the right as shown above.

Step 6

Loop to the right and glue to the mountain side of the fold.

Step 7

now fold up and to the left once again as shown above, loop and glue to the mountain side. Repeat the process from step 5 and complete the leaf.

Black & White Quilled Dimensional Flower - Butterfly Heart

I quill 3d flower frames when I want to try out a new flower, so for this quilled floral design, I wanted to try out a layered flower using husking technique  and a simple butterfly using beehive or  honeycomb quilling.

I used a multi-strip heart on which I lay out quilled flowers and leaves.  I made the leaves slightly different from the leaf sprig in the tutorial since I didn't want a leaf sprig with stems. I have also used quilled roses and for the rose leaves I just made folded leaves like the ones I used in A Feathery Discussion.